U.S. oil services provider Halliburton Co. has reached a deal to settle claims in connection with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The settlement will see Halliburton paying US$1.1 billion over the next two years in three installments.

The money will be placed into a trust until resolution of all appeals in the case.

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The deal, which includes legal fees, requires approval by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The Gulf oil disaster occurred in 2010 on the Macondo prospect, which was operated by British multinational oil and gas company BP.

The U.S. government estimated the blowout dumped 4.9 billion barrels of oil into the sea in the biggest accidental marine oil spill on record.

Eleven workers died in the accident, including nine employees of rig contractor Transocean Ltd.

So far the case has cost BP US$28 billion and Transocean, which reached a settlement last year, US$1.4 billion.

The suit against Halliburton stemmed from cementing services that the Houston-based company provided in the Macondo drilling operation.

Halliburton maintained that BP should take responsibility for the spill, which took months to contain, because of its decision to use only six centralizers to cut costs.

Cementing jobs require centralizers to stabilize well bores.

A U.S. government report in 2011 said that BP was ultimately responsible for the accident and that Transocean and Halliburton were also liable to some degree.

According to an investigation by a White House commission, cost-cutting decisions and an insufficient safety system as well as "systemic" root causes led to the spill.

It said that the disaster might happen again unless government policy and industry practices underwent major reforms.

In 2012, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency imposed a temporary ban on BP bidding for government contracts after the company pleaded guilty to charges including manslaughter.

BP also agreed to examine its safety practices and ethics under a settlement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice.

TagsHalliburton, BP, oil spill, oil disaster, Transocean, corporate liability